Briton 'dies of Ebola in Macedonia' - latest
A British man suspected of contracting Ebola has died in Macedonia, according to reports. Follow latest updates
A High Level Isolation Unit at the Royal Free hospital in London, England Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
By
Jessica Winch
7:40PM BST 09 Oct 2014
This page will automatically update every 90 secondsOn Off
• British man 'dies of Ebola in Macedonia'
• Ebola UK: everything you need to know about the crisis
• Ebola outbreak: the global spread of the virus - in 90 seconds
Latest
19.40 Fiona Govan reports from Madrid, where medical staff are now refusing to treat Ebola patients for fear of infection:
Scared medical staff in Madrid refused to treat possible Ebola patients on Thursday for fear of becoming infected themselves, as the condition of the Spanish nurse who contracted the virus deteriorated further.
The Carlos III hospital, where seven quarantined cases are being treated, has had to draft in extra staff after nurses there refused to turn up for shifts.
“There are members of staff who are cancelling their contracts so that they don’t have to enter [rooms with possible Ebola patients],” said Elvira Gonzalez of the SAE nurses union
Although no formal absentee figures have been released, a number of nurses and health technicians have formally resigned from their posts, while others have made excuses to avoid going into work.
“A lot of people are calling in sick,” one member of staff told El Pais newspaper. “They are saying they have period pains, or that they feel dizzy. People are anxious and can’t be expected to work like that.”
Staff members who have agreed to work in the hospital’s isolation ward are receiving psychological counselling.
19:11 More from Reuters on the British man with symptoms of the Ebola virus who has died in Macedonia:
Authorities said they had sealed off a hotel where he stayed, keeping another Briton and hotel staff inside.
A Health Ministry official said the man had arrived in the capital, Skopje, from Britain on Oct. 2 and had been rushed to hospital at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Thursday, where he died several hours later.
Dr. Jovanka Kostovska of the ministry's commission for infectious diseases said the man had been suffering from fever, vomiting and internal bleeding, and that his condition deteriorated rapidly.
"These are all symptoms of Ebola, which raises suspicions with this patient," Kostovska told a news conference, adding that samples had been sent to Germany for tests to confirm the cause of death.
19:09 The 60 people who were quarantined near Paris have been let out of the municipal health office where they were quarantined and the authorities say the "suspicion" of a possible ebola case has been lifted.
19:08 About 200 cabin cleaners at New York’s LaGuardia Airport have gone on strike partly because of fears about the risk of Ebola, saying they were not receiving the proper equipment or training.
“The workers are really worried because they tend to be exposed to bodily fluids, including by cleaning out bathrooms on airplanes,” said Amity Paye, a union spokesman.
The union is holding its own training sessions, saying that the airlines are not preparing for a possible infection.
The US government will this weekend begin checks at five major airports of the temperatures and health histories of passengers who began their journeys in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
19:04 America’s top health official has compared the
outbreak of Ebola to the Aids epidemic amid dire warnings by international officials about the spread of the virus, writes
Philip Sherwell:
Thomas Frieden, the director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a veteran of the fight against Aids, delivered his bleak assessment at a World Bank summit to raise funds to fight the disease.
"In my 30 years in public health, the only thing that has been like this is Aids," Dr Frieden told the conference in Washington. "We have to work now so that this is not the world's next Aids.”
Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank president, struck a similarly sombre tone as he said that the global response to the Ebola crisis was “way behind the curve”, leaving Africa’s future “at stake”.
The World Health Organisation has warned that the virus could be impossible to eradicate and become a part of life in West Africa, as Aids is in the world today, if action to defeat it is not taken swiftly.
There is one crucial difference however with Aids however. Ebola has only been passed on by an infected person demonstrating symptoms of disease, while HIV can be transmitted by people who for years show no signs of carrying the virus that causes Aids.
18:56 There have also been reports in the past 15 minutes that French authorities had sealed off a building near Paris over suspected cases of Ebola, although within minutes this precaution had apparently been lifted.
18:54 A spokesman from the Macedonian foreign ministry said: "I can confirm that a British person has died and he is in the state hospital in Skopje.
"We are looking to see what are the reasons according to the protocols of the World Health Organisation."
18:53 The Telegraph's
Harriet Alexander has the following update:
The attention seems to be focussed on a hotel in the Macedonian capital, Skopje.
Local media reported that the TC Mavrovka hotel was "blockaded by men dressed in pressurised space-suits, and special medical vehicles checked all persons who were in contact with the person who allegedly died of Ebola."
It is still not clear at all whether the person who died had Ebola - and if they did, what nationality they were.
Some initial reports suggested the victim was British, but that was not confirmed. Other reports suggested the victim could have been Norwegian or Nigerian.
18:50 The Macedonia Health Ministry has confirmed the death of a British national, saying Ebola is "suspected" and that the victim travelled from Britain, reports Reuters.
18:37 Futher details from
Reuters on the British man suspected of contracting the Ebola virus who has died in Macedonia. The report quotes a senior Macedonian government official:
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters a second Briton had also shown symptoms of the virus.
He said the two had been staying at a hotel in the capital Skopje and that hotel staff and the ambulance crew that took them in for treatment had been put into isolation.
The virus, which is spread through direct contact with body fluids from an infected person, has killed nearly 4,000 people in West Africa since March, in the largest outbreak on record.
18:23 In Spain, the nurse infected with Ebola is at "serious risk" of dying from the disease after her condition worsened on Thursday, officials said.
The nurse, Teresa Romero Ramos, "is at this time very ill and her life is at serious risk as a consequence of the virus," the Madrid regional president Ignacio Gonzalez told parliament.
Teresa Romero Ramos, the Spanish nurse who contracted Ebola, with her dog Excalibur
18:11 If confirmed, this would be the first death of a UK national from Ebola, although British nurse Will Pooley was cured of the deadly virus last month.
The news came as Downing Street said
enhanced screening for Ebola will be introduced at Heathrow and Gatwick Airports and Eurostar terminals following advice from the Chief Medical Officer.
18:06 A second Briton had shown symptoms of the virus, the Macedonian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told
Reuters.
17:59 The Foreign Office is investigating reports that a British national has died in Macedonia of suspected Ebola. An FCO spokesman said: "We are aware of the reports and are urgently looking into them."
17:57 According to
local reports from Macedonia, a man believed to be a British citizen died at the clinic of infectious disease in Skopje.
The doctors, according to the symptoms exhibited when the patient was admitted, believe he had Ebola. When admitted to the hospital, the patient was unable to communicate and died shortly afterwards.
Macedonian authorities are taking measures in compliance with WHO protocols, according to reports.
Ebola has yet to be confirmed by tests, however doctors agree his symptoms were nearly identical to other Ebola cases in the US and Spain.
17:51 A British man suspected of contracting Ebola has died in Macedonia, according to a senior Macedonian government official, reports
Reuters.
